The Costa Rican Digital Nomad Law is Still Late, But Do You Really Need It?

The Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica approved a bill to attract digital nomads in July 2021. President Carlos Alvarado signed it into a law that August. Finally, it was published in the official newspaper La Gaceta in September.

The only thing left was to publish the regulation’s ruling in order to give legal certainty to tourists seeking a digital nomad visa to live in and work from Costa Rica. That was supposed to happen in November, but as of March 2022 it hasn’t been the case yet.

This delay means that no digital nomad visa is been granted now, even though the ‘work from anywhere’ trend has been a thing since before the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s just more common now, and Costa Rica wanted to take advantage of that.

There are foreigners certainly working remotely from here, but not because they have a digital nomad visa. We’ll take a look later at an alternative process that could be of use to digital nomads who are tired of waiting for the Costa Rican government to step up.

First, let’s take a look at what’s happening right now with the digital nomad visa ruling.

Digital nomad visa in Costa Rica: long overdue

The first week of November 2021 was the deadline for the government to turn the ruling for the digital nomad visa. The ruling involves many departments and institutions and, seemingly, the coordination between them has been harder than expected.

The last thing we heard from the government was that the ruling was “in the final phase of the inter-institutional review process before it goes out to public consultation, and later to publication.” That “publication” part is the last milestone for it to be a reality.

Meanwhile, the administration has been receiving pressure not only from businesses from the tourism and commercial sectors but also from inside the government. The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT), for example, has criticized the delay.

The ICT Minister Gustavo Alvarado said last February that the regulation’s ruling is not an initiative of his department. It is the Costa Rica Immigration Department (DGME) that is ultimately responsible for the document and its coordination with other institutions.

The minister expressed concern because the legal framework was approved in the midst of a pandemic to open markets in the midst of said pandemic. “Unfortunately, time has passed and the publication of these regulations has not been achieved.”

The Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) also criticized the government. The delay “puts us at a disadvantage compared to countries that currently offer some type of incentive that makes it easier for travelers to live in their territories for longer while they work,” it said.

“The lack of regulation prevents the proper application of the law and generates legal uncertainty for companies,” Canatur added. “For this reason, we urge the competent entities to complete this process as soon as possible and finally issue the regulation.”

Do you really need a digital nomad visa in Costa Rica?

As we said before, there are digital nomads working from Costa Rica already. There’s not only one way to do it, but if you’re waiting for the government to implement these visas you should know that there’s a type of residency that might work for you.

We are talking about the rentista temporary residency for people with fixed income, one of the various residence options available for foreign workers in Costa Rica. This residency is valid for two years but is renewable for additional two-year periods.

The digital nomad visa would be valid for one year, renewable for one more year only. This means that, if after those two years you want to stay in Costa Rica, you’re going to have to apply for residency — likely for the rentista residency.

For a digital nomad visa you will need to have a minimum monthly income of $3,000 individually and $4,000 if you come with your family. Instead, for the rentista residency the minimum income is $2,500, independently of if you come alone or with family.

Another difference is that digital nomads will need to show proof of insurance that covers them during their stay in the country, which can be expensive. Rentistas have to affiliate to the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), which depends on income.

Most people we know of that are coming to Costa Rica in hopes of working remotely from here are contract workers whose companies likely won’t give them insurance that covers them internationally. They have to buy it themselves, and it could be pricey.

In summary, if you want to live in Costa Rica for more than two years you might as well spend those two years filing for rentista residency, which is also a path for citizenship. You also won’t have to wait for the government to implement digital nomad visas.

Because the government has not yet published the ruling, there’s still a lot of questions about how digital nomad visas are going to work. Instead, there’s a lot of certainty concerning rentista residencies, since they already exist and work well for expats.

What about driver’s licenses for digital nomads?

One of the appeals the digital nomad visa may pose for foreigners looking to live in and work from Costa Rica is that the law that President Alvarado signed last July says that driver’s licenses from other countries will be valid here under this new scheme.

The law literally only mentions driver’s licenses in one sentence (article 19), so there’s really not much information about how that is going to work. This could be attractive to some because of what expats yet to file for residency have to do in order to drive here.

As we explained in this article (which we recommend for further reading on this issue), foreigners who enter Costa Rica receive a 90-day maximum tourist entry stamp in their passports, which they must renew if they want to continue more time in the country.

To renew this timestamp, foreigners must leave and re-enter Costa Rica, be it by land borders (with Nicaragua and Panama) or flying or sailing somewhere else and returning. This way, they have another 90 days to file for residency.

Nevertheless, if you want to drive in Costa Rica you will need to renew that entry stamp every 90 days, even if you’re filing for residency, since only residents can obtain a national driver’s license or homologate the one they have from overseas.

If the digital nomad visa’s ruling confirms that drivers won’t have many restrictions in Costa Rica, that should be an advantage point of these visas. Nevertheless, as we said before, we still don’t know how all of this is going to turn out and we can only wait.

Have questions about the rentista residency in Costa Rica?

If you are a digital nomad, or plan to be one, and are thinking about Costa Rica as an ideal destination for that purpose, you are probably thinking about the rentista residency after reading this article. As you should, since it’s a good alternative.

Have any questions about the rentista residency? Don’t hesitate to contact us. We are ready to answer your questions as soon as possible and we actually have clients who decided for this residency after waiting so long for the digital nomad visa.